


crush

by pacificnewt



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, and also easily flustered, bones is fucking hopeless, good bones and jim content, spock is a smug shit, they’re in love sharon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 21:12:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18925126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacificnewt/pseuds/pacificnewt
Summary: “I think you have a crush on Spock,” Jim observed nonchalantly.His CMO didn’t think there was anything to be nonchalant about.





	crush

**Author's Note:**

> ive never written for star trek before and idk how bc its my favorite thing ever but hi soft spones is what keeps me alive

“I think you have a crush on Spock,” Jim observed nonchalantly.

His CMO didn’t think there was anything to be nonchalant about. He nearly dropped the hypo in his hand and fumbled with it like someone who’s been caught entirely off-guard. “What did you just say?”

“I said,” his captain started, adjusting himself on the examination table he was situated on, “I think you have a crush. On Spock.”

Leonard McCoy was seldom embarrassed. He was a man who prided himself on his ability to own things and typically, typically go with the flow. As grumpy as he could be, his soft spot for his fellow man often overcame his stubbornness; albeit against his better judgement.

Seldom being embarrassed did not equate to never being embarrassed. And if the good doctor ever had to pin a time he’d been uncomfortable like no other, he would certainly choose just a few tense moments ago, when his best friend and confidant proposed he may have feelings for the crewmate he’d sworn up and down he hated the most.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Leonard mumbled. He ignored the rising heat in his face and busied himself again with refilling an injection. “I don’t get crushes.”

“Bullshit!” Jim snickered and smoothed his fingers against the table below him. “I bet you’ve had plenty. No high school girlfriends?”

“D’you know how old I am, Jim?” Leonard furrowed his eyebrows and squinted at the instrument in his hand. “I graduated high school, what, fifteen years ago? I haven’t had a ‘crush’ since. Haven’t even bothered with any romance since the wife.”

Jim gave him a lopsided smile and pointed at him accusingly. “Lies. You totally had the hots for me back at the academy.”

At that remark, Leonard’s face reddened considerably deeper. He clutched the hypo tight in his hand. He turned around to face Jim and spat a quick, “That isn’t true.”

“Is too!” He grinned, while his friend grimaced. “The way you always looked at me, wanted to study with me, wanted to– OW!”

Leonard nearly smiled at Jim’s newfound silence. He had stuck the hypo into his neck and slowly pressed down to drain the injection into his bloodstream. He pulled it out and Jim looked at him, eyes glossy.

“Can’t you be gentler with that?” His hand rose to his neck to massage his skin, now sore and irritated. 

“It gets you to shut up, so no,” Leonard replied dryly. He set the hypospray on the counter and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re free to go now. I suggest you do.”

“I suggest you do,” Jim mocked. “Fine, alright, whatever.” He jumped off the table and ringed his hands, then pat Leonard on the back with force. “You gonna give Spock one next?”

“Fuck’s sake, Jim!” Leonard raised a hand with the intent to strike him, but Jim had ducked out the door quick, laughing as though it was the funniest thing in the world.

Leonard released a deep sigh and propped his elbows on the counter. He placed his forehead in his hands and rubbed his temples with his back turned toward the door to medbay. He inhaled sharply and grumbled a few incoherent thoughts to himself before a voice behind him nearly made him jump out of his skin.

“What does the captain find so humorous?”

“Shit!” Leonard gasped loudly and whipped around, hand clutching his blue shirt. “Oh, God, it’s only you.” He took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled even deeper out his mouth. He wished he hadn’t just made a fool of himself in front of– “Hey, Spock.”

“Good afternoon, Doctor,” Spock greeted. “I’ve been asked to retrieve a crewman’s medical records for him. Do you mind allowing me access?”

Leonard raised an eyebrow. “Who? They couldn’t come see me about it?” He crossed his arms and Spock gave no response. “Fine, dammit. Just do it quickly; I have more vaccinations to give.”

Spock nodded and made his way to the counter beside Leonard to begin sorting through folders packed with paper. He quietly started flipping through health records, prescriptions, and written notes from physical examinations. Leonard watched him carefully and pretended to get to work doing something else at the counter. He felt the familiar tightness in his chest he always seemed to feel when the Vulcan was around. He dismissed it as frustration and decided to straighten out the mess of needles and fluids that sat on the smooth surface. They worked in silence.

Spock finished with one stack of paper and dutifully moved to the next. He reached for the stack of paper next to it at the same time Leonard reached in the same direction to move over a jar filled with tongue depressors. His hand brushed against Spock’s lightly and gasped rather sharply.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, and raised his head to look at Spock. He had never seen anything like it.

Spock’s eyes were widened and he looked nearly bewildered. He was staring at his hand, cheeks dusted a pale geeen. Leonard squinted, then realized Spock was blushing.

“Uh, Spock?”

“Thank you for your help, Doctor. I will come back later.” Spock folded his hands, nodded succintly, and left medbay swiftly.

Leonard’s eyes followed him out the door, terribly confused.

In the hours that followed Leonard noticed that Spock hadn’t been out and about as usual. He wasn’t in medbay, and not on the bridge. He figured he probably had better things to do, but regardless, Leonard was slightly disappointed he didn’t end up seeing Spock at all the rest of the day. He’d never admit that, though.

The following day, there was still no sign of Spock. Leonard waited out the morning, figuring he may have been catching up on some work. He waited impatiently in his medbay office, wondering if Spock would come back for the records he wanted the other day. When afternoon rolled around, Leonard was restless.

“Jim,” he called, head poked out of the door to the bridge. Jim came sauntering around the corner.

“What’s up, Bones?” He pat his shoulder friendly-like but with force.

“Have you seen Spock? I can’t find him since yesterday.”

“Yeah, I talked to him, like, an hour ago.” Jim studied Leonard’s face and broke into a grin. “Why’re you lookin’?”

“Because,” he started carefully, “because he came in yesterday for some records. He left suddenly and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Really?” Jim’s face twisted into a look of puzzlement. “Weird. I’ve seen him at least twice already today.”

Leonard crossed his arms and absentmindedly tapped a foot. “Could he be ignoring me?”

“Depends. Why’d he leave?”

“I don’t really know. We accidentally brushed hands and then all of a sudden his face went green and he left.”

Jim stared at Leonard as blank as he could. “You… you touched hands?”

“Yeah,” Leonard replied, “and it ended up making everything really awkward. He was honest to God blushing and then took off. I don’t know what happened.” He turned to Jim for support and suddenly frowned. “Dammit, man, what’s so funny?”

And Jim was laughing. He tried to speak in between fit of giggles, but ultimately doubled over, holding his sides while his body shook with laughter. Leonard stood and looked disapprovingly at him the entire time. Jim looked up at him with tears in his eyes, and Leonard was entirely unamused.

“Sorry, sorry, man, sorry, I just– God! Bones, have you ever seen two Vulcans kiss?”

“No?” Leonard was confused, then mortified.

“They kiss with their hands, dude. Spock thinks you smooched him.”

Leonard’s face turned a hellish shade of red. He buried his face in his hands and groaned deeply. “Goddammit,” he grumbled. “He thinks we kissed!”

“Oh, that is too good!” Jim broke into another fit of cackles, only laughing harder every time he looked at his suffering friend. “Too good!”

“Well what the hell am I supposed to do now? He won’t talk to me, he won’t even look at me!” He was frustrated, and he couldn’t tell if it was more so directed at himself or the situation. He decided on both and sighed heavily.

“He’s probably in his room,” Jim said once he’d mostly calmed down. “Just go tell him you want to talk to him. Straighten things out, make it clear you didn’t mean it, pretend it never happened.”

Leonard took a few steady breaths and nodded. “Yeah, alright. Thanks, Jim.” He ran a hand through his hair and sank against the wall after the captain turned back around the corner.

Once he’d finished wallowing in his self-pity, Leonard gathered himself and his thoughts and rose back to his feet. He fixed his hair once again and started off towards the corridor Spock’s room was in.

He cleared his throat outside the semi-foreign door (he’d only been by it a few times before) and tried to calm himself down. He wasn’t one to be overly nervous, but Leonard found himself plagued by anxieties moments from finally setting things straight. He rehearsed what he was going to say in his head, he calmed down his racing blood pressure, and he took one last deep breath. At the height of his inhale the door opened and his heart rate spiked.

“Spock–!”

“Hello, Doctor.” Spock gave Leonard a nod and took a few steps past him.

“Actually! Um, do you have a minute?”

Spock cocked his head curiously. “What is it?”

“I, uh…” Leonard cleared his throat again and frowned. “Okay, not really any way to sugarcoat this. Can we talk about what happened in medbay yesterday?”

Spock’s face was unreadable. “You Vulcan kissed me,” he stated plainly.

Leonard grit his teeth and hoped to God his face was less red than it had been. “Yeah. Well– yeah. I did. But–“

“I was not aware you had such feelings for me,” Spock said. He seemingly ignored the look of horror on the doctor’s face and continued. “I had assumed from our frequent bickering you quite disliked me. However, I would like you to know it was rather enjoyable.”

Leonard felt his head spinning and his stomach turned every which way. “Wait, are you saying you…”

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Spock finished. “I had not been anticipating it.”

“Me neither,” Leonard mumbled under his breath. “I, um, but… Spock, it was an accident. I didn’t even know what it meant until Jim told me. Why were you avoiding me?”

“I was unsure of the nature of our relationship,” he replied. “Doctor, do you or do you not have feelings for me?”

Now that was a question Leonard never thought he’d have to answer. And he sure as hell didn’t want to answer, either. “I, uh… do you have feelings for me?”

“I find your company and companionship enjoyable.” Damn him for never giving a straight answer. “And I find you physically attractive.”

Leonard nearly choked on nothing and fell against the wall. Spock looked amused.

“Are you alright, Leonard?”

“I’m fine,” the doctor coughed. He stayed propped up against the wall, his cheeks practically on fire. His whole body was started to burn up. It was unfortunately apparent that Leonard was quite easy to fluster.

“You never answered my question.” Spock moved closer to him, nearly inadvertently pinning him to the wall. Leonard swallowed his pride, swallowed his embarrassment and his shame, and he leaned toward Spock. He successfully caught the Vulcan’s lips in a human kiss.

As soon as they connected Leonard cursed himself for doing it. He knew it was probably a stupid idea and that whatever relationship he had with Spock would have been tarnished thanks to his idiocy. He was confused, though, because Spock was not confused. In fact, he seemed like he was expecting it. Wanted it, even. Spock was still for a moment, and then he pressed back against Leonard’s mouth. They stayed kissing stiff for a bit until Spock pulled back and nearly smiled.

“Spock?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“I think I have a crush on you.”

“It would appear that way, Doctor.”


End file.
